Asia, at about 60 % of the total, is the major tobacco manufacturing region with China only owing about 36 %. The shares of India, South America (primarily Brazil), and mainly Africa (Zimbabwe, Malawi) have not ceased growing. The share of Europe (which includes Eastern Europe) decreased and that of the US continued to be similar.
Cigarette manufacturers intensively use of domestic tobaccos. However, about 30 % of world tobacco manufacture is traded throughout the world. There are a number of factors for this. First, particular big tobacco cultivating countries as Malawi, Zimbabwe and Tanzania produce a small number of tobacco products of their own. Second, certain significant cigarette and cigar making countries do not cultivate any tobacco locally. The Netherlands one of the world’s major cigarette and cigar exporters is one of them. Others like Japan, Germany or Russia do not manufacture sufficient to meet demand. A third cause is that the majority of cigarettes sold these days are mixed cigarettes that mean they possess a blend of diverse tobaccos. A small number of cigarette making countries cultivate all of these tobaccos.
The majority of cigarettes are currently consumed and manufactured in Asia. This is not a big surprise taking into account the region’s large share of world population. Within Asia, China alone creates 30 % of world overall. The growing share of Asia has occurred at the cost of Europe and North America, which observed their share of the world total decrease.
In China, local demand for cigarettes is mainly fulfilled by domestic manufacturing. Official numbers reveal that the country trades virtually nothing. Exports and imports constitute less than 2 % of the national need or production. India is situated in an identical situation.
In some other countries, local demand is also primarily fulfilled by local production but, on top of that, they are significant exporters. The United States is a very good example. It imports very few cigarettes, but it exports 1/3 of its production. It is the world’s major exporter, owning more than 20 % of world exports. Exports became gradually more significant for US producers in the 1980s when local demand began its long decrease. In the late 1990s, however, US manufacturers of cigarettes came to deal with severe problems when cigarette exports became weaker at a time when local demand was affected by the price boosts following the Master Settlement Agreement.
The last group is composed of countries that depend on a great extent on imports to meet the domestic demand. Illustrations are Russia, Japan and several countries in the Middle East which do not have any manufacturing of their own.
More Info:
http://www.ttb.gov/tobacco/tobacco-faqs.shtml
https://www.lib.umn.edu/bell/tradeproducts/tobacco
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/economics/econ_facts/